§ 15-63. System description.

(a)

The cable television system installed by the grantee shall comply in all respects with the capacity, capability and technical performance requirements set forth in applicable federal rules and regulations and amendments thereto.

(b)

The grantee's cable television system shall have the technical capacity to provide return communications.

(c)

The grantee's cable television system shall maintain at least one specially designated noncommercial public access channel which shall be available on a first-come first-serve, nondiscriminatory basis. The grantee shall maintain and make available for public use the minimal equipment, personnel and facilities necessary for the production of programming for the public access channel. The channel will be made available without charge, except that production costs may be assessed for live studio presentations exceeding five minutes. Production costs and any fees for use of other public access channels shall be consistent with the goal of affording the public a low-cost means of television access.

(d)

The grantee shall maintain without charge a specially designated access channel for local government use.

(e)

The grantee shall maintain without charge a specially designated access channel for public education use.

(f)

The grantee shall offer capacity for leased commercial access services as required by applicable federal regulation.

(g)

Whenever all of the channels described in paragraphs (c), (d), (e) and (f) of this section carry nonrepetitive programming 80 percent of the weekdays Monday through Friday for 80 percent of the time during any consecutive six-hour period for six consecutive weeks, the grantee's cable television system shall, within the limits of its channel capacity and if consistent with then applicable FCC rules and regulations, have six months in which to make a new access channel available for any or all of the purposes for which such channels are designated. Nothing in this provision shall prohibit the grantee from exhibiting programming of its choice during such time as the access channels described in paragraphs (c), (d), (e) and (f) are not in use by the public. Grantee shall, however, at all times, give priority to public and governmental use of the channels over grantee's programming, provided grantee is afforded reasonable notice of such proposed use.

(h)

The grantee shall provide without charge within the initial franchise area basic standard service to all fire stations, public and private schools, police stations, public libraries, rescue squads and other buildings used for municipal purposes and designated by the county; provided, however, that if it is necessary to extend grantee's trunk or feeder lines more than 600 feet to provide service to any such school or public building, the county shall have the option of paying grantee's direct costs for such extension, in excess of 600 feet, or of releasing grantee from the obligation to provide service to such building.

(i)

The grantee shall maintain its cable system with a level of production or other facilities, technical performance, capacity, equipment, components and service that is equal to that which at a minimum has been developed and demonstrated by existing cable television system operators and reputable equipment suppliers to be workable in the field, that is as modern and technologically advanced as that employed by comparable cable systems, that is reasonably available and economically and technologically feasible to install and for which there is reasonable market demand.

(Code 1978, § 7-23)

(Code 1978, § 7-23)